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The Collison Brothers (An Extra Ordinary Family)
From Rural Ireland to Building Stripe 🇮🇪 💳️
Danielle & Greg Neufeld
October 13, 2025
Hi friends,
This week on The Most Important Thing, we’re kicking off a new side quest: Extra Ordinary Families — stories of real families whose everyday culture stacked up to something remarkable.
First up? The Collison brothers.
Before they built Stripe, Patrick and John Collison were just two (of 3) brothers growing up in rural Ireland — far away from school, friends, and the internet. It was a childhood filled with books, boredom, and a whole lot of unsupervised time.
On this episode, we unpack what we know about their family life and organize it into takeaways the rest of us can learn from:
🔍 The Paradox of Environment
How the Collison boys grew up in rural isolation without the internet but were surrounded by books, curiosity, and the freedom to explore.
🧭 High Standards + High Support
The parental balance that gave them both autonomy and accountability (including the month they were left home alone at ages 10 and 12!).
🌍 A Bigger Picture Perspective
How parents modeling their own ambitions and exposing their kids to the wider world shaped the boys’ mindset for lifelong exploration.
This is a side quest we have been wanting to do for a while, and we’re thrilled to bring you our initial findings. Because, while the Collison brothers are clearly outstandingly successful, they also seem to be very nice.
👇 Check out the episode:
TMIT 31: The Collison Brothers (An Extra Ordinary Family)
Spotify | Apple | YouTube
⏱️ We also made a bite-sized trailer that you can watch in under 60 seconds. Check it out below or on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube.
2.9% + 30¢ at a time,
Danielle & Greg
